A pair of early inning errors and struggling bats doomed Maryland on Saturday against Michigan State, as The Terps (17-6) suffered a 5-2 defeat to the Spartans (9-11) on a windy day at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, their first home defeat of the season.

“As staff what we’re trying to figure out who can play where, who is going to be reliable, who’s going to have tougher at-bats and who is going to be able to play good defense and do that consistently,” head coach Matt Swope said after the game. “One thing is definite, we’ve had a good season so far, but we have not played good defense.”

For the third consecutive game, Maryland was facing a deficit before it even came to the plate. Landon Lozier led off the game by turning a single into a double after Luke Zeisloft was unable to make a diving catch. After Lozier advanced to third on a wild pitch, he crossed home plate on a ground ball muffed by Eddie Hacopian.  The Spartans added a second run on a single from Ryan McKay two batters later. 

A two-out throwing error from third baseman Chris Hacopian in the top of the third allowed a pair of Spartans to score, extending their lead to four runs. 

Logan Koester started for the Terps and after a rough beginning, pitched into the eighth inning. Koester threw 115 pitches over 7 ⅓ innings, striking out four batters and walking three. Of the five runs he allowed, only two were earned. For the season, Koester has a 2.72 ERA over 36 ⅓ innings. 

“I give him credit, today we did not play good defense behind him,” said Swope. “Some emotional pitchers or young guys really lose themselves in those situations, so the credit goes more to him just being consistent mentality wise.”

Andrew Johnson relieved Koester, finishing the final 1 ⅔ innings and striking out three batters. He has yet to allow a run in 7 ⅔ innings this season. 

In the third inning, Maryland had the bases loaded with one out and their four and five hitters due at the plate. Kevin Keister, the team’s cleanup hitter, drove in Chris Hacopian on a sacrifice fly, the only run the Terps scored in the inning. 

Chris and Eddie Hacopian reached base with one out in the fifth inning, giving the Terps a major opportunity to slice into the Michigan State lead. The ensuing two batters grounded into a fielder’s choice and flew out as the inning ended scoreless. 

The following inning, Sam Hojnar, who had one hit in his previous 12 at-bats, clubbed his fourth home run of the season to make the score 4-2. 

The Terps had two runners on with one out in the ninth when Chris Hacopian grounded into a double-play to end the game. 

Maryland stranded eight runners in the loss, while Michigan State only left six on base. Of Maryland’s seven hits, five came courtesy of the Hacopian brothers. Chris Hacopian went 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored, while Eddie Hacopian went 3-for-4.

“We have some guys that are being consistent and some guys that are really, really struggling,” said Swope, who placed a portion of the blame for the offensive struggles on himself, saying he needs to prepare the team better. “Part of that too is we have a lot of new guys. … We’ re talking about a lot of moving parts where there’s basically no consistency in the situation.”

The series finale will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. With a win, Maryland will secure its 23rd consecutive Big Ten series victory, a streak that dates back to 2021.

“In college baseball you talk about winning weeks,” said Swope. “We still have a chance to clinch the series tomorrow and finish with a strong, winning week,.”